sigh of content

I'm sitting on the couch, surrounded by dogs.

Freddie behind my neck, Tweak laying with her body against the couch, her head on my lap, Pacie cuddled into her, Millie lightly touching them both.

My homework is done and another poem is started - one comparing the feeling of love to the feeling of the sun kissing skin on a warm summer's day. (oh so corny but there it is)

I'm tired, physically, but in that refreshing way.

I'm on my way to bed, to burrow in my down comforter, atop my feather bed, my head will sink into my pillow while the AC provides white noise.

Life is good.

D

water in my ear...

If you speak to me, speak loudly as I have water in my ear from the other day and can't hear shit. I have swimmer's ear so sometimes water gets stuck or something...I really don't know. I put some drops in the other day to help but they didn't. Speak into my left ear like you would an old person if you want me to hear you. Or maybe I can get one of those funnel type things they used to use. Wouldn't that be cute.

I just gave Tweak a motion sickness pill. Fingers crossed that she doesn't get sick in the car - or even feel sick for that matter. I don't want her to be paranoid of the car. That's not a good thing for a flyball dog that will be traipsing all over New England and beyond. Seriously. That would suck.

This weekend's tourney is being held at a Teamworks Center in Northborough. It will be good to see all of Tweak's littermates again! I'm bringing my camera for more group pictures. :) Huh. I should publish one or two of those...

D

those pictures...

Before my blog broke, I meant to post a few more flower pictures I thought were pretty darn cool.

Now that I can, I am. :)

D

party

Yesterday I said I thought I was having a party after work. As it turns out, I did. Mom, Dad, Keith, Nick, Leah, Kevin, Sue, Chris, Neely, & Cal came over to spend some time with Nick. He spent the whole time in the pool, my brother tossing him about this way or that. The thunderstorms held off, the water was incredibly warm (82 degrees), everyone ate, drank, and was merry. It was fun. :)

I did something to my left index finger - it's swollen and it hurts when I bend it. I have no idea what I could've done tho'...probably just slept on it wrong.

I have to get my shit together tonight for the tourney this weekend - pack the car, get and cut up treats, pack the cooler, stop and grab something to bring for our food table and the tourney food table, print out directions, figure out what time I have to wake up so I can be there on time, print out my homework and bring my books, bring the laptop so I can catch up on work and web stuff. Yeah, I think I have a bit to do. :) I have to remember to bring Barb's tugs - I think she's going to be there. At some point I need to relax too. :p

But first I need to get through another work day!

D

my calendar is full

At least for this week it is. Oh, and every weekend in July. November looks good though. :p

Some random thoughts:

The other day I was driving home on the highway when I was passed by a state cop in the left hand lane. I wasn't driving too fast and, let's face it, I have a minivan so I usually don't attract too much attention that way. About a minute later, a little red car came flying up behind me, zipping from lane to lane. How many times have you seen some asshole weaving in and out of traffic, without directionals, far too fast and you say to yourself, "Where is there a cop when you need one?" It happens to everyone I think.

Imagine my happy surprise when I saw that the statie had pulled over the little red car a few miles up. :) The one time I've seen it work the way it's supposed to. Now, before you get all up in arms, I have friends that are cops. I know they don't spend the day in Dunkin Donuts parking lot, they really are out there dealing with shit you wouldn't even believe went on. Seriously. I don't believe half the stories I hear! I'm just saying that it's the first time I've *seen* it happen. That's all. :)

Holly came by after work yesterday to go over some website stuff and float in the pool for a bit. I have some ideas that I'll play with and see where they take me. I think I'll be doing a lot of web stuff while at the tournament this weekend. Oh, and writing, lots and lots of writing.

I think I'm having company today as well. My nephew is in town and we're all meeting here to hang out and spend some time with him. I have to see if I can leave early to pick my mother up from the airport. I have to stop and pick up spomething to eat too. Oh, and gas for the grill. Fingers crossed that the scattered thunder storms we're supposed to get happen over night.

Did I mention that I took Tweak to training Monday night and she was the worst day in the class? No? Oh yeah, totally true. Dogs are so humbling at times. :)

I'm surprised I haven't had any friends come over to go swimming the past couple of days!

D

canceled

I was supposed to have Jury duty today, but it was canceled. I think that means I'll have to go again at some point and I don't get the 3 year vacation from it that I was hoping for. It also means I have to go to work today. :(

Last night was the annual dinner, which was good. Actually, I can't believe I contemplated not going. I almost pee'ed my pants I was laughing so freakin' hard.

I learned a lot of new things about my fellow flyball teammates - some I'm not sure had any right being uttered in public. :p Although it isn't really applicable between us, I'll use Nancy's quip for here - What happens at the Barn, stays at the Barn...

It felt really, really, really, really good jumping in the pool after work yesterday. Crazy good. I think I'll leave a tiny bit early so I can enjoy it for a bit longer today. You're more than welcome to join me (if you know me.)

Would it be wrong to jump in the pool instead of showering?

D

you know you want to

Because I haven't been able to blog, I wasn't able to share the latest installment of pictures of the kids. Donna (from DonnaKelliher.com) came over and did a few photo sessions with the kids.

You know you want to buy them.

You can, it's still a free country (kinda.) But I'll probably get weirded out if I don't know you and I see you walking down the street in a t-shirt with my dog on it. I'll probably think it's cool at the same time but still weird. Of course, then I'll have to grab idle strangers, point to your chest and exclaim for everyone to hear "That's my dog!" Save us both the embarrassment and stick with a mouse pad or something. :p

Set up a photo shoot of your own - you won't regret it. :)

D

a poem

Look at me, blogging, like a normal person! I don't even really have all that much to say, I'm just doing it 'cuz I can. :p

But, that's not really all that thrilling to read so I figured I'd share a poem.

Only serious dog lovers will understand this.

Two Dogs: An Ode to Play

A twist this way
Begging to play
Let me give you my butt

C'mon let's go!
Running to and fro
Let me give you my butt

A handshake won't do
For us that's true
Let me give you my butt

Don't lay down!
If I could I'd frown!
Let me give you my butt

What's this I see?
Your butt for me!
Let me give you my butt

We'll frolic and play
The whole day away
Let me give you my butt

I wrote that (pre-coffee even) this morning while watching Pacie and Tweak playing around. Pacie is the voice of the poem and he gives good play butt. I'm going to try to get a picture of it too. I guess that Creative Writing class is paying off...or at least I'm learning something. Who cares if it's at a pre-school level? :p

Maybe I'll write a bunch of poems - for kids, from dogs. Can't you just see them running around yelling "Let me give you my butt!" Ok, parents may not like it but it has to be better than Barney. Right? I need an illustrator. :p

D

Back in business

Woohooo! Whoop-Whoop!

Yes my friends, I am back from the land of server mishaps.

Aren't ya just tickled pink?

D

this sucks

I still can't blog. I've been saving so much stuff up to write about that I don't even remember what I was going to write. Dammit.

So, I'll blog, even though I can't publish anything.

Today was a freakin' *wonderful* day! It was about 80 degrees and I had no plans. [insert big, shit-eating grin here.] I spent the morning reading the paper, reading some homework, and enjoying my iced coffee. Once it got warmer, I went out and skimmed the pool. I needed some chemicals so I had to go to the pool store.

I don't know what it is about that place, but it's like Home Depot. If I have to go to Home Depot for any reason, I end up going like 3 times. I either forget something, or, most likely, get the wrong thing. I can never seem to just go once and get what I need.

The pool store is the same way. If I go once, I'll end up going at least twice - more likely 3 times that day. Today was a 3 time a day day. I got something to kill algae and a few towels the first time. I got a new vacuum head and algae preventative the second time. Then I got some stuff that will make all the pollen clump together and some Ph decrease the third time. I brought some water in to be tested and it wasn't all that bad at all...far better than I thought. Tomorrow I'll condition it and add the decreaser 'cuz Tuesday and Wednesday will be scorchers!

You'll find me floating away on both of those days. :) Hopefully I won't get as burnt as I did today.

I needed to get Tweak a new collar and I wanted to spend some one on one time time with Millie so she and I took a ride to Petsmart. She loves going for rides in the car - especially when she gets to get out of the car. :) She's so good it's not even funny. She stayed right with me in the store, didn't pull to get anywhere, and most impressively, didn't lift her leg to mark over any of the "accidents" that were around. That's my girl. :p

I played Frisbee with Tweak today. She almost even caught it once! She's starting to lose her teeth so I didn't want to play too much...she's bleeding enough as it is.

I got my hair done yesterday. I am sufficiently red again. :) Raggedy Ann on crack kind of red. Sweeeeet.

Now I'm gonna go watch some TV and get a head start on a writing assignment due tomorrow.

Maybe they'll even fix my server so I can blog soon....

D

changing a post

I'm going to change my "all I want for christmas" post. Instead of Tweak's 2 front teeth, I want my blogger to work.

D

more technical difficulties

I've been trying to post since Thursday or Friday of last week, but have been unable to. My hosting company moved all (most) of my files to a new server last Thursday and everything's gone to pot since then.

Tech support on both sides are involved.

Here's to trying yet again...

D

let's see....

...if it will decide to let me post today...sigh.

Can you say *frustrated*?

D

Pardon...

...apparently we're having technical difficulties.

#$%*&#@!

D

more great pics

I've been walking around with my fingers in my ears saying "la-la-la-la-la I don't want to know" the past couple of days. Funny how stress can throw you in delusional denial. :p

So, rather than bitch, moan, and complain, I figured I'd concentrate on the positive aspects of life. Things that demand the minimum from me and give back one hundredfold. My flowers.

I take pictures just about every morning before leaving for work. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a bit touched in the head. I'm ok with that. Someday I'll have a calendar with all of my beautiful shots and I'll silently laugh as they ohhh and ahhh. (Remember earlier I said I was delusional? Well, here's an example. :p )

I need to get a gallery together of this years flower pictures. I'll probably wait until the fall or winter, when the season is over. Every week I take at least one picture that makes me drool and I'd hate to have to keep going back to update the gallery. Laziness at it's finest. :)

So, here are a few shots that I'm pretty thrilled about. You might have seen a few of them already, but you have to admit, they are that good :) Let me know what you think....

D

Arggghhhh! Blogger is not cooperating. If I can ever get it to upload my photos, they'll be here in place of this sentence. Grrr...

all I want for christmas...

...is my two front teeth.

Tweak has lost 3 of her front, bottom teeth. She has 2 new ones coming in. She's going to look really silly in a little bit. :)

I went to work today, only to leave less than 2 hours later so I could spend the day with my mother in the hospital. She has a condition and it flared.

I'm planning on heading back down there tonight. But first I have to catch back up with work, do my homework, and take care of my kids.

I don't think it's a good thing that I want to go to sleep at 5:30pm. I'm just sayin'.

D

blogs

This is one of the times that writing a blog becomes more of a pain in the ass than the anonymous, freeing expression it's supposed to be. When something happens in my life that involves people I know read it, I can't just put it all out there. I can't vent and get my feelings out or even describe the situation. That sucks, in case you were wondering.

I can't talk about the drama. I can't talk about the people. I can't talk about the history. I can't talk about any of it.

Well, I could, but I can't, y'know?

Maybe I'll start another blog so I can go back to being anonymous. I'll do it in another country so it has a different country extension and I'll change my name so it can't be traced back to me - Sybilsblog.com.fr.com. Nobody would know it was me and I could go back to saying what I want whenever I want.

Of course, I could say fuck it and just type anyway. The price to be paid for it would just be too high tho' so I'll just bitch about not being able to bitch freely.

In news I *can* talk about, Tweak had class 2 of puppy kindergarten last night. We worked on settle, sit, and started on stay. I was more impressed that she ran around and played with different dogs more than anything else. I've been training her since I got her, of course she can sit and lie down. But since she's at or coming into that fear stage where everything is scary, I thought it was pretty good of her to not hide under my chair or stick by me the whole time. Maybe she has gotten enough socialization, even though there's no such thing as enough. Maybe she hasn't hit that stage yet. Maybe I'm spending too much time thinking about it and it doesn't much matter.

Regardless, she did well. :) I really need to get back to heeling with her. She's starting to really put some muscle into the pulling she's doing on the leash and I don't much care for that. The gentle leader I bought is now too small for her so I have to pick up another one. Maybe I'll get that tonight.

Blah.

I just noticed that Tweak is a good 2 or 3 inches taller than Pacie now. When did that happen?

D

time

I would like to go back to the age when ten minutes felt like forever. Y'know, when Mom made caramel apples and you had to wait 10 minutes until they cooled. That's the kind of time I'd like in my life. Not like what 10 minutes is now - a blink of the eye.

Has time always been so fickle? Is perception the key here, like it is in everything else? Does anyone really ever get control?

Questions I'm sure I'll only learn the answer to when I have the time to think about it and none of the stamina or strength to act on it.

Mom was in town this weekend. Yesterday we spent the day with my grandparent's, watching my little cousin graduate from high school on the local tv channel. You can see the slowing down in my grandparents - more in my grandfather these days. It's sad to see, hard to handle, and a fact of life no one can do a damn thing about.

Where has the time gone?

My memories show me such a different person - one sitting at the head of the table during family get-togethers, talking, laughing, and eating. Though not very touchy-feely, a warm, solid presence for us grandkids (I'm sure he was still the enforcer type with his kids!)

I think I want one of those remotes Adam Sandler has in that movie. The one that can rewind and fast forward, then go back to real time. That would be cool.

D

Neosporin (plus pain relief)

I did a lot of training with Tweak tonight. Instead of the basic obedience kind of stuff, I worked on spin (turning to her left) and around (turning to her right), leave it (leave whatever alone and look at me), and finally hit it (jump on the target with 2 paws). Afterwards we just played with the tug, which is where the Neosporin comes in. Some day I will figure out how to get her, in her frenzied state, to go after, and grab, the part of the tug I'm *not* holding on to. Heh. I won't hold my breath tho'. :p

So I have nice new slice along my pinkie. This is kinda gross, but I was able to flip back the flap of skin to cover the wound. Hey, I said it was gross!

Since I got the puppy, I've had more holes, scrapes, slices, and punctures than I've had in years. I figure I've got about another month before those razor sharp puppy teeth are adult teeth. I noticed she's already lost one of the bottom, front teeth. I'll feel bad for her, but my skin will rejoice with amazing glee, let me tell you.

495 was a freakin' parking lot when I left work so I cut through Lowell with my trusty GPS guiding me. The thing about GPS is that there are a lot of settings you can change on it. I, the incredibly intelligent person that I am, forgot to change some of the settings on it. So, when I told it to get me home, it promptly turned me around and sent me right back to the very highway I was trying to avoid.

I pulled over once I realized it and changed the settings to avoid major highways. I was starving by the time I got home so I stopped at the little place down the street and had dinner. One of my favorite authors, Laurell K. Hamilton, came out with a new book so I'm re-reading the one before it in the series to remember where we were in the story. I had a nice little dinner, totally engrossed in my book - perfectly relaxing. :)

I'm working from home tomorrow because I'm getting gutters installed on the house. It'll be great (I think) to not have all the water coming off the roof dripping on my head while trying to get in the door on a rainy day. And on that note, it's time for bed so I can read my book for a bit before falling asleep. :)

D

budding photographer

I took this picture yesterday morning. I dare you to tell me you wouldn't see this kind of image on a calendar or in a book or magazine. I double dare you! I'm so thrilled with this picture that I've even made it my desktop wallpaper. I haven't changed that in about 4 years (it was a picture of Skootchie, Millie, and Freddie from one of our trips to Maine.) I'm so in love with this picture!

I've been doing nothing but working and homework the past couple of days. I have 2 weeks left in this class and I'm pretty thrilled with that. The good thing about accelerated classes is that they're only 6 weeks - about what my attention span will take. The bad part is that I still have 15 weeks of work to do in those 6 weeks.

I've been thinking more and more about school lately. I like it, but it's a huge time suck and time is something I just don't have a lot of lately. I'll graduate with my AS next year sometime - before summer I think. Part of me wants to go on - all the really cool classes are on the way to my Bachelors - all the classes I really want to take! The other half misses being able to do things after work, like going to the training center one or two nights a week, like reading a book on the deck while eating dinner, etc., etc. Lately I just haven't had time.

But, I think I've come up with a partial solution. The summer is the busiest time for me (usually) and I don't *have* to keep taking classes one right after the other like a regular student would. I hibernate in the winter anyway - a good time to learn stuff for me. So, I'm thinking that I'll finish the AS, go on to the BS, but only take classes in the fall/winter/spring and take the summer off. It's only one quarter. It doesn't matter to anyone but me whether or not I graduate in 2011 or 2013. :p

See, now if I could take work out of the equation, I'd be set. Work is really the biggest time suck of all! Who knows. Maybe I'll snag myself some rich sugar daddy by then and I can stop working and instead work on all of these business ideas I have. After that, I could be a professional student. :p Wouldn't *that* be nice!

D

puppy training

Tonight is Tweak's first puppy class. Why take her to class when I've already been working with her and I teach other people how to train their dogs? Simple. You can never train too much, or train in too many places. Dogs don't generalize well. "Sit" in the kitchen doesn't mean "sit" at the park. Not until you teach them that "sit" means "sit" everywhere. To do that, you have to "proof" it - take your training on the road - go everywhere so "sit" means "sit" everywhere.

Plus, she'll be able to play with lots of puppies! Socialization doesn't stop when you hit the 100 mark. Especially since she'll soon be entering her fear stage. And BC's need a little more socialization than most. I like to be able to take my dogs anywhere and know they'll be ok in the situation. Even Millie - she's snarky when she first meets dogs but if I just kept her home all the time she'd get worse - much worse. So, I worked with her for years, built up trust so she knows I have control over the situation and she doesn't have to do anything about it. That's why I can take a reactive dog like her to Dog Camp and not have her fighting every dog she sees.

At some point I have to do homework today on top of working a full day.

I'm not sure where I'll find the time. Yeah, I know. Nothing new. :p

D

flowers

Clearly I don't have enough because I just finished planting 24 Petunias, a dozen Pansies, 4 Osteospermum (sp?), and 6 really cool looking red things. :) I'm hoping it rains one of these days that they say it's going to so the roots will take.

And I planted some Petunias in the planter on the deck. I'll still swear about the bees - even though I'm causing my house to become a target for them. Stupid. But, I love flowers and I like driving up and seeing them. They really just make the house look a lot nicer than it actually is. :p

Oh, and I set up the soaker hose in the front too. Finally.


I have a few hours for homework and then I'm off to Joe & Ellin's for Kate's graduation.

D

recovering

So I went Friday night with a friend from work. We went to a little Irish bar where we (really I) partook in some excellent beverage. Multiple excellent beverages. She had to pour me in the car to get home = a *lot* of excellent beverages.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling like death was sitting on my chest. I haven't had a hangover like that in *years*! Ugh. I keep forgetting I'm getting too old for this shit. :)

My sister came by Saturday morning so I could scan some pictures for her. I'm pretty sure I was still drunk. She stopped at Dunkin Donuts and grabbed a coffee for me. She's such a good sister. It's a wonder I was able to hold it down - I was *really* not feeling good!

We were planning on going out to breakfast so I called Sue and checked to see if she was available for it, which she was. We went to Shaws in Dracut and had ourselves a good time sharing. It's always good to share with family and friends. :) My hangover trick is carbs - lots of carbs. So after my breakfast of pancakes, hashbrowns, and maple bacon I was feeling pretty darn good. Ok, not real good, but much better. We all shared so I also got to have a taste of a maple bacon and cheese omelet and eggs benedict. Yummy. :)

We stopped at a nursery on the way back and I picked up a few more flowers to plant. It's cloudy and cool right now and I'm hoping it'll stay that way so I can do some weeding and planting and not get molested by bees in the process. Then I have Kate's graduation to go to later today. Oh and homework.

But first I need to get to flyball practice. I have all the stuff so I should be there kinda on time. :)

D

observations...

So I said I was going to post an observation of the day a while back. Clearly I haven't been doing that. I'd like to think I'm still sharper than a spoon and observe things every day. Of course that's a matter of opinion - depends on who you talk to. :p What it comes down to is that I observe plenty, but unless I'm sitting here blogging, I usually forget about it. It goes into that dark, back corner of my mind only to see the light of day when it will cause me the maximum amount of embarrassment as useless trivia.

A friend of mine has recently become involved in a group whose purpose is to help people in their long term goals and day to day lives. I feel happy for my friend - it seems to be what my friend needs and/or wants. I've read a little bit about it and think it's great if one feels one needs it. I totally support my friend, but I really don't want to be involved in it other than by supporting my friend. It's just not for me.

Today I got a little bit of the shpeal. I don't know if that's how you spell that or even if it's a real word, but you know what I'm saying. I was told that it was hugely beneficial and that the value far outweighs the cost. I was invited to a meeting but I have plans for that day and time.

I told my friend that later on, since I had totally forgotten about it at the time. I was then asked if I would be interested in attending the 3 day version of the meeting. I claimed price was the stopper for me with that, which wasn't exactly the truth, but I didn't want to hurt my friend's feelings. Clearly this is important to my friend and I wouldn't want my friend to be insulted by my lack of interest.

I think the next time my friend brings it up, if my friend does, I'll be honest and say that I really don't feel the need nor do I have the interest in attending. I'm hoping that will go over well as, again, I totally support my friend but don't feel that it's for me.

Unfortunately I don't think that will be the case and I think it will permanently change a little something in our relationship - not so much for the better. I would like to think we're both adults and so it would be received in a good way but I feel deep down that won't be the case. I really truly hope I'm wrong.

Opinions are like assholes - everyone has one and that just happens to be mine.

Man. Do you have any idea how hard it is to tell a story without indicating gender? Sheesh. If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have written it!

On the lighter side, today I observed that Freddie is quite the handsome boy. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :)

D

oh my....

So I'm sitting here reading my mail, trying to wake up when Freddie brings me a ball. I toss it into the kitchen so he can fetch it (the boy lives for chasing balls) when all of a sudden Tweak goes bombing off the couch and beats him to the ball! He was *not* expecting that, let me tell you. His face was priceless! And they say dogs don't have expressions. Look at my little girl grow. :)

I did indeed open the pool Tuesday. Dad came over to help me take the cover off and I set up all the pump stuff. Clearly I did it wrong though as the water started bubbling up out of the skimmer instead of going into the pool. :p I called the pool place and they walked me through how it *should* be set up but that didn't help since that's how I had it set up. I stopped at the store on the way home the next day and looked at how the store display was configured. The hose from the skimmer doesn't go into the filter like they said, it goes in to the pump. BIG difference! Ah well, at least it's right now.

I added a few gallons of shock, got the rest of the leaves out, and brushed the liner. I'll give it a few days and then test the water. It just figures tho', I open the pool and it's supposed to rain for 10 days. Great.

Tweak is growing like a weed. I don't know when it happened, but she's a few inches taller than Pacie now - probably between 16 - 18 inches at the whithers. Her fur is starting to grow longer too. It's parting down the middle of her back, sleek and smooth. I know I'm biased but damn she's a good looking dog. :)

Her training has been going well too. She had lots of small sessions while at camp. The one thing she really has no interest in is not pulling on the leash. We'll be working on that this weekend though. I refuse to have another shoulder surgery because my dog didn't feel like walking next to me. That ain't happening.

I have a ton of homework to catch up on this weekend. I also have a graduation thing to go to on Sunday. Other than that, I'll be here cleaning and cutting wood. I have to find a place to put all of the firepit wood. It's in the way where it is.

Ok, time for work. Yay.

D